The Age Of The Bender
by VileSoul
Summary: Azula has been imprisoned since the defeat of her father. Six months later a new threat to the world arrives. After Aang is killed in Avatar state, the Avatar ceases to exist.


Hello everyone, this is an Avatar story. My name is Jake and I will try to update the story whenever I can. This is an action/romance story, and I would love to get your opinions on it, so please Review!

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Azula stared at the metal wall in front of her, she was trapped in a fully steel wagon, being escorted to the earth kingdom capital. It was pitch black, but she was use to this. Her hands were encased in led, her feat aswell. Her mouth was covered in what seemed to be a mask made of earth, to block the fire she could release from her mouth.

For the last 3 months, since her father Ozai had lost the war, she had been incarcerated at boiling rock, in top secret lock down. It was humorous, they had to create a whole nother layer of security for her arrival. She was always guarded by three men in towers, holding crossbows on her every second of the day. There hasn't been a day where she wasn't chained.

She felt the wagon bump up and down, her hands sore from the led almost crushing them. She closed her eyes, escaping to the only place she could, her thoughts.

"God, why do I have to be in charge of escorting princess crazy to the capitol." Toph said, sighing as she sat ontop of the steel wagon, watching the horses pull it along.

"Well at least its better than dealing with petty criminals right? I mean Azula is the most dangerous person to the peace of this world at the moment." Katara said, sitting on one of the horses backs. Toph scoffed.

"Hardly." She answered, watching Ty lee jump to the top of the wagon.

"We should stop soon, I'm starving." She complained. Toph just layed on her back, looking at the sky.

"You should be on more alert Toph, what if Azula tried to escape?" Katara said, pulling the horses reigns to make it stop, they pulled to the side of the road.

Toph only laughed. "Try to escape? She doesn't have a chance in hell. Besides, me you and could easily take her down."

Katara shook her head. "You should take your work more seriously, your one of the 5 generals of the earth kingdom now."

"I don't see why we just don't kill her." Toph said, Katara looked at her.

"Whoa, you want to kill her?" Katara said, kind of shocked. Toph shrugged.

"Shes dangerous, she's probably the strongest fire bender next to Zuko." She informed, Ty Lee frowned.

"What? We can't kill Azula." Ty Lee said, biting her lip. Toph looked at her.

"Give me one good reason we shouldn't." She stated, starting Ty lee in the eyes. Ty lee opened her mouth to respond, but then just closed it, unable to think of any reasons.

"Toph stop, why do you think were taking her to the capitol? So Aang can take away her bending." Katara said, noticing Ty Lee getting uncomfortable.

"Well why do we have to bring her all the way there?! Aang should of just went to that hot rock place..." Toph said, irritated.

"Because the earth king, Zuko and the water tribe leaders wanted it to be done in public.." Katara answered, Ty lee nodded.

"Whatever." Toph said, jumping off the wagon. Ty Lee grinned, knowing the earth bender is irritated. She pulled out all the cooking utensils from her bag.

"Lets eat now." Ty Lee said happily, Katara agreed.

0-0-0-0

The earth kingdom came into view about two days later, the group were happy to almost be done with this mission, and get back to bigger matters at hand.

"Almost there." Katara said, Toph and Ty lee playing with some cards on top of the wagon.

"Woo!" Toph yelled happily, pounding the top of the wagon with her fist. "Hear that princess?" Toph said, laughing. Ty Lee ignored it, and played her hand.

It wasn't like she thought Azula was innocent, but they were best friends since they were kids. Ty Lee always told people there were some good in the fire princess, but they told her that was just good thinking. Ty Lee stared down at the metal wagon.

The day she betrayed Azula, she thought about it all the time. She had to do it, Azula was going to hurt Mai, that was when Ty Lee knew, there was no good in Azula, only evil.

The group watched as more than 20 earthbenders raised there hands, opening the huge earth walls to the outer skirts of the city. As they passed through, one of the 5 generals leaped from the top of the wall to land next to them.

"Toph, how did the mission go? No troubles I presume?" Xin asked, Toph jumped from the top of the wagon.

"Yeah, she didn't struggle at all." Toph said, sighing. She looked up to the sky, black clouds covered it, a storm just ending in the earth kingdom.

"Hmm.." Toph said, Xin looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Something wrong?" He asked, Toph hesitated but than shook her head. The slapped the back of the wagon, informing the new driver to start her up and head to the front of the palace.

"Toph, we have some matters to discuss at the meeting room." Xin informed, Toph sighed.

"I'm sick of all this paperwork. Will the other 3 be there?" She asked.

"No, Vishu will be absent." He answered, Toph pinched the bridge of her nose. Vishu was the only one Toph really liked.

"Fine, lets go. We better not be late for Azula's downfall though." She said, tensing up as a rock beneath her launched her to the top of the wall, Xin following.

There were 5 generals in the earth kingdom, rated 1 - 5 for there earth bending abilities. Vishu was number 1, she was hailed as the woman who had over 400 com-firmed kills when the fire nation attacked the rest of the world. She was only 32, the second youngest of the generals. She was a master earthbender, inventing many of the earth style attacks since she was young.

The 2nd general was none other than Toph. She was a master earth bender, aswell as the inventor of metal bending. She was promoted to general after tales of her journey with the avatar, and the defence of the world during the war. She was only 13 years old.

The 3rd of the generals was Xin, he started at the lowest rank in the army of the earth kingdom, after hard training he was appointed to the body guard of the earth king himself when he stopped a troop of fire nation spys assigned to assassinate the king. After the war he was appointed the 3rd general. He was 42 years old.

The fourth and fifth general were two men, age 55. They were nicknamed the twins of Omashu, the kings of underground earth bending fighting. There names are Ushi and Yema. After singlehandedly freeing many villages and cites from the fire nations control, they managed to defeat half of the entire fleet of fire nation ships during the 100 year war.

Toph finally arrived to the meeting room on the corner of one of the walls. She noticed Vishu sitting in her chair, it was bigger than the rest of the chairs because she was number 1.

"Vishu! I thought you weren't going to attend the meeting today?" Toph said exictedly, walking around the large table and to her friend.

"And what? Miss the fall of the fire princess? No way." She said, looking down at Toph with a warm smile. Toph laughed.

"Ahem." Both twins said, looking at Vishu. She smirked.

"Lets all sit." Vishu said, the generals did as told and sat in there chairs.

"We are to dicuss the matter of The Isle." She said, a serious tone. Toph expression grew confused.

"What about it?" Toph asked, Vishu looked at her.

"It seems they have been gathering forces together." She answered. "As you all know, The isle is a nation about have the size of the earth kingdom on the other side of the world. They have asked the 5 nations to leave them to themselfs, not wanting to get involved in our troubles."

"And we have done exactly that, so why are they gathering forces?" Ushi asked, the 4 generals looking to Vishu.

"We don't know. We have sent a ship to the Isle, but it has disappeared and we have heard nothing since." Vishu said. "We must fear the worst, that the ship was destroyed. If thats the case, it is an act of war."

"War?" The twins said in unison. Vishu nodded.

"Why on earth would The Isle want to go to war with us? The five nations have come together, theres no way they could take us on in a war!" Yema said, Toph nodded.

"There not even benders, just normal people." Toph added.

"We are not to underestimate them. If we can avoid a war we will try at all costs." She said, the other generals agreeing.

"So what will we do? Send another ship?" Toph asked, Vishu nodded.

"Well that didn't work the first time, what will be different?" Xin asked, Vishu grinned.

"Think time, I'll be on the ship." She answered, Toph chuckled. "The meeting is over, you are excused." Vishu said, standing out of her chair. The other generals stood and bowed before walking out.

"Toph, stay here a moment. I have a new technique I want you to learn." Vishu said with a grin. Toph went eccentric, She loved learning new skills from Vishu. Xin frowned as he looked back.

"Why not teach all of us?" Xin asked, the twins stopping and looking back. Vishu looking back at him.

"You all are not ready to learn this one, maybe next time." She said, The twins nodded and continued walking. Xin scoffed, anger in his face, he walked away as well.

"Well come on." Vishu said, running towards the wall, jumping as she opened it up with her earth bending and jumped off the wall, flying more than 1000 feet towards to the ground, Toph was right behind her.

A moment before they landed, Vishu managed to turn the earth below them into sand, easing there landing.

"Okay, so what is it?" Toph said, Vishu laughing.

"Just watch." She answered, lifting a rock the size of her head into her palm. Toph watched, intrigued. Vishu floated the rock inches away from her palm, as her expression changed to one of concentration. Her fingers began to curl towards her palm as the rock suddenly seemed to crush in on its self.

Toph continued to watch, not sure if this was what she was supposed to learn, it looked simple enough.

Vishu condensed the rock the size of her head into what seemed to be a pebble, it didn't look like she would be able to make it any smaller, until it was pushed down into the point of a needle. Air whipped around Vishu. It required much strength to condense something like that.

"Whoa..." Toph said, watching Vishu. She turned her head back and smiled at Toph. "Well?" Toph asked. Vishu grinned as she used her other hand to raise an earth wall, 20 feet thick. She suddenly pointed the hand that had the tiny piece of rock at the wall. She focused.

She released her hand, the moment she did the rock seemed to shatter, blowing millions of pieces of shrapnel at top speed towards the wall, totally tearing it apart.

"Holy.." Toph said, amazed. Vishu laughed.

"You have to be careful with this move Toph, if you release accidently, or unable to control the force of the rock pushing outwards, it could easily harm someone or destroy buildings." Vishu informed Toph nodded.

"But why not teach this to the other generals?" Toph asked, looking up at Vishu.

"I don't think they have the bending power to condense the rock to that point, I think you have the power to make it even small than I did." Vishu explained.

"Smaller than yours? I don't think I'll ever be as strong a bender as you are." Toph said.. She always told her self she would be the greatest earth bender, but Vishu made that dream look impossible.

"Are you kidding Toph? Your the 2nd general of the earth kingdom, at only 13 years of age. You have your entire life to surpass me, well, if you try hard enough." She said, grinning down at her young friend. Toph smiled back.

Suddenly the two heard a giant horn, signaling to the city the time for Azula's downfall has come.

"Well come on than, we don't want to miss this." Vishu said with a smile, Toph nodded and the two girls took off.

0-0-0-0

The crowds gathers, people from all nations piling in front of the palace of the earth-kingdom. Peace seemed to become very stable after the fall of Ozai, there were still scars that were left unhealed because of the war, but the people tried there best to work past it.

A giant stage was set up so the entire crowd could see the end of the princess, Aang, Katara, Toph, Vishu and Sokka stood at one end of the stage, as Zuko and the Earth king stood in the middle.

"Today is a great day for the 5 nations! Today we take from the Fire princess, the right to her fire bending!" The king announced, the crowd going crazy in applause. Zuko stepped up.

"My father and sister had one goal. To tear this world asunder and become the dominating nation! Last year, we stopped them, and there reign. Now, here with the Avatar, we can finally breath easy when Aang strips her bending from my sister!" Zuko announced.

Suddenly, Azula began to walk up the stairs onto the stage, Toph following behind her. Tophs fist were tight, increasing the strength of the led balls on Azula's hands and feet. Azula wanted to scream, feeling like her bones would shatter.

When she got to the center of the stage, She turned to face the crowd. It was quiet, she stared at the faces of the people who hated her, people who wanted nothing to see her dead. Aang made sure she would not be executed, and she hated him even more for that.

She would rather die than have her bending taken.

Suddenly, Toph stomped her foot. Making the earth mask that cover her mouth to crumble away. Aang walked up in front of her.

"Azula, you and your father have committed war crimes of unfeasible proportions. The fact that he and you live are because of mercy." He said in a grim tone. Aang has changed a lot since the end of the war. He grew hardened, persistent to keep the peace he worked hard to gain.

Quickly, he pressed his thumb to Azula's forehead, blue light erupting from Aangs eyes and mouth, while red light flew from Azula's.

This battle of will was so much easier than fighting against her Father, Azula's will must have weakened since being imprisoned for so long. Aang easily overwhelmed her, causing the lights to cease.

It felt like Azula had the wind knocked out of her, she fell to the side, panting heavily. Aang looked to Zuko and nodded.

"It is done! Azula is no longer a threat to the peace we have created!" Zuko said proudly, the crowd erupting in cheer.

Azula tried to keep her eyes open, she saw the eyes of the crowd, full of hatred towards her. She wanted to stand up, and make there lifes cease, but she could feel it. Her power was taken.

This moment seemed like hour to the broken princess. She layed there, listening to nothing but celebration and cheering as her power was taken from her. She couldnt help but grin, all these people, were so afraid.

"Aang whats the matter?" Zuko said, looking at Aang face which was focused on the sky.

"Somethings wrong.." He said, before a sudden boom exploded into the sky. Everyone looked up, as giant war blimps began to descend from the sky. Aang looked at Zuko, anger in his expression, knowing the fire nation loved using those flying machines.

Zuko just continued to look at the sky, in shock. With this Aang knew he wasn't responsible. Suddenly, the bottoms of the blimps opened, dropping what looked like metal balls. A loud ring let out.

"Everyone! Stay down!" Aang yelled, his eyes glowing white as he spread his arms, creating a dome of earth to shield the crowd. The moment the metal balls hit the top of the dome, they exploded, sending metal pieces into the air. Many soldiers and citizens were ripped apart.

Aang heard screams of pain and terror, he jumped into the sky. Vishu and Toph followed after him, hovering on top of earth. The city already began to burn. The blimps sent out jets of flame, scorching the city.

"Whats happening?!" Toph yelled, Vishu didn't seem to hear her as she flung pieces of jagged earth at the blimps, hoping to take them down. The spikes seem to just explode as they touched the surface of the blimps. Her expression grew angry. She will not watch her city fall.

Aangs eye continued to glow, he whips he fists outward, flame exploding fourth as it engulfed one of the blimps, it exploded in mid air, crashing down out side the city.

Zuko used his flame jets to chase after the avatar, helping him fire flame blasts into the sky. Aang looked to his left, Zuko gave him a nod. They both blasted towards the main blimp which was covered in golden armor.

"Well Well Well, if it isn't the avatar himself." A man said, standing on top of the main blimp. A grin graced his face as a fireball flew right towards him. He leaped out of the way, and into the air towards Aang. The mans sword was twice his size, but he than flung it towards the ground.

Aang used his air bending to fly even faster to the man who he assumed was the leader.

"Its only right to start with you!" He said, grabbing what looked like a metal shield from under his cloak. He held it up to guard himself, another fireballs smashing into it. Aang was furious.

"Gotcha." The man whispered. The shield started to glow, Aang didn't stop flying right at the man. Suddenly, the shield turned red, and a beam of light shot out, covering Aang in the red light. The man seemed to laugh as Aang stood paralyzed in the light. Zuko moved from the light, throwing a flame at the man, but it was blown away when it got within feet of him.

"What is that?!" Zuko yelled, watching the light shine brighter and brighter.

"Lets not stop to find out!" Vishu called out, holding her arm out as it was covered in rock, a sharp point at the tip of her fingers. She leaped off the piece of hovering earth towards the man, appearing behind him. She readied to stab him through until a spear pierced her back, stabbing through to her chest.

"Vishu!" Toph screamed, chucking a boulder at the person who was operating the turret that shot the spear. Vishu watched as she fell, Aang's white eyes slowly turned grey. The light from the shield faded, and he also began to drop from the sky.

Vishu used the strength she could and pointed her hand to the ground, earth began to rise and caught the avatar, herself landing on the ground hard. She coughed blood when she landed.

Katara was instantly by Aangs side when the earth dropped him lightly to the ground, she whipped her arms around, water grabbing Vishu and bringing her to Katara. She watched as the bombs kept dropping, and people were burned and killed

Toph dropped to her side, Zuko still in the air fighting. He released jets of flame upon the blimps, not seeming to do much damage. He grew angry, opening his mouth and unleashing a torrent of flame, destroying 2 more of the 15 blimps. Soon men started to propel from them.

"Whats wrong?! Why isn't he getting up?!" Toph yelled, shielding them from spears and bombs. Katara put her head against Aangs chest. There was no pulse. Her heart stopped.

_No.. No! No! You can't die Aang! You're our only hope! Don't die! _

"He's not breathing!" Katara yelled, water encasing her hands as she pressed them to Aangs chest. When she did, it felt like Aangs spirit had completely vanished, like his body was just an empty shell.

"T-Toph..." Vishu managed to say. Toph fell to her knees over Vishu, who just grinned, than her face grew serious.

"You have to.. Evacuate the city... Make sure... The fire lord... Lives..." Vishu said, coughing up a fair amount of blood. "Get everyone.. To the southern water tribe... Now!" She said, Toph nodding. She began to pick Vishu up.

"No! Leave me!" She said, Toph shook her head. "Now Toph! Leave!"

Tears streamed down Tophs face. She grabbed Katara who fought back, trying to get to Aang. She sank them into the earth, popping back in the underground crystal catacombs.

Vishu smirked, moving her fingers as earth filled the hold in her chest to at least stop the bleeding, she knew she was already going to die.

She looked up. Smoke filled the sky, hiding the already black clouds. She wanted to at least go out in a bang.

She jumped back into the air, her arms behind her as she clentched her fist, rock from the ground, palace, and nearby buildings followed behind her, she then started to spin. The earth spun around her, creating a torrent of stone, mud and rock.

She smashed into the blimps, pushing them out of trajectory and bringing a few of them down. She was only stopped when she felt her heart give one last pulse, before she fell back to the ground.

Her last thought was of the young earth bender who she had believed would be the best earth bender in history. A smile graced her lips once last time.

Toph shot herself back up to the surface, now seeing the Ba Sing Se army trying to fight back.

She watched as foot troops from the blimps now stormed the city, using spears, blades and crossbows to take down the benders.

She looked up to the sky to see Zuko still fighting the man that took down Aang.

"Zuko! Zuko!" Toph screamed, Zuko turned his head to look down at her, the man kicked him int he chest, making him crash down into the ground. Now the man began to fall, but landed on his feet with a smirk.

Toph used her earth bending to create a pit under Zuko, making him fall into the Catacombs. Toph stood on her feet, enclosing the dome Aang created to protect the crowds. She used all her might to push the now closed dome into the earth.

It was slow but successful, she managed to save about 60% of the citizens. Toph wanted to try to help the army fight back, but she knew she didn't have much time left before she fell.

She looked around, she saw Ty Lee standing over Azula.

"Get up! Get up damn it!" Ty Lee yelled, trying to lift Azula. She was unconscious now. Toph sucked Ty Lee into the ground, and then herself, leaving the broken princess.

"No! I have to rescue Azula! Take me back!" Ty Lee screamed, noticing all the people in the catacombs. Toph fell from the ceiling, obviously exhausted.

"Quickly! Everyone follow me!" The earth king yelled, trying to make the citizens follow him to the tunnel that led outside the city. Katara and Ty Lee picked up Toph, who was not unconscious.

All the people were now out of the city as they walked away, few looking back to see the blimps hovering over Ba Sing Se, and the city in flames.

0-0-0-0

"Sir, we found her." One of the men said, walking up to the man who beat Aang. The soldiers wore white uniforms, and most used long spears and halberds.

"Bring her here." He said, standing on top of the earth palace. He watched his men cleanse the rest of the city. He smirked, the age of the bender is now over.

Two men carried Azula up the stairs, her body was still limp.

"Is she alive?" He asked, they nodded. "Put her on the ship, she's coming back with us."

The plan went off perfectly. They waited until all the strongest powers of the 5 elemental nations were together, and struck. He looked down to Azula, and next to her the body of the Avatar.

His men gathered in front of the palace, as Zro looked down at his people.

"The Avatar... Is dead!" He called, his men cheering. "Ba Sing Se... Is ours!" He called out again, the cheers not stopping.

"Soon! The Age of the bender... Will be over!"


End file.
